The great successful achieved by the first series of the Middle East Karting Cup 2008. Which hosted the three round of Egypt and United Arab Emirates, certainly the two rounds of the opening and the closing hosted by Ghibli raceway on its track at Sharm El Sheik in Egypt, while the kartdrome circuit hosted the second round at Dubai in United Arab Emirates.
On this occasion the Automobile and touring club of Egypt in cooperation with Egyptian Federation of the Egyptian motor sports hosted a press conference which was announced of the championship next month starting from 11th of Dec. 2008 at sharm el sheikh, where the top of the guests are General / Raouf Deghaidi – Vice chairman of the club, Genral / mohmed Hareidy- vice Charman of the federation , and Mr/ Hany Soufrakis – chairman of the Ghibliraceway in addition to Mr./ Mohamed El Sayad general manager of the domestic tourism sector at the Egyptian Tourism Authority and also Eng./ Zeyad Abou Eatta – National Egyptian / Libyan Karting Team.
The conference has been reviewed the positive sports and tourism returns in Egypt and the middle east, in addition to the positive role of the Automobile and Touring Club of Egypt which consider the Egyptian supportive for motor sport in Egypt and the sole representative of the international federation of motor sport FIA.
With Egyptian / Libyan National Karting Team participation in the coming championship, local and region motor sport will step a new ear for the future" Abou Eatta said, and he also add that the team members are ready for the coming rounds with a lot of enthusiast hopes to gain some podium position in this championship.
The Middle East Karting Cup, International Kart Racing’s newest competition is all set to embark on it’s second series starting at the world famous Ghibli Raceway, Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt in mid-December. The series is looking to build on the undoubted success of it’s first staging when Kevin Reichard of Austria, beaten only by Sheikh Hasher Al Maktoum in one of the Heats at Dubai Kartdrome, was crowned the first Middle East Karting champion in the senior class.
More excitingly for Karting in this region, little Ottman Abu Samra of Jordan, the son of Rally Champion Maarouf Abu Samra is expected to return to defend his junior title. This was won in a dramatic last round race at Ghibli in April when young Ottman stole the title from under the nose of Syria’s Pierre Georges. The Belgian based Georges was penalised following a collision with Abu Samra which ultimately was to cost the Syrian the title.
The best of the Middle East senior drivers in the inaugural series, Hamza Dirani, is also a Syrian and his third place, coupled with Abu Samra’s junior class victory, suggested that this region’s best kart drivers may be found in Syria.
But in the junior class, expect another strong showing from Libyan brothers, Hassan and Amin Soufrakis. Young Hassan was runner up to Ottman Abu Samra in the inaugural series and in the intervening months it is reasonable to assume that both brothers will have gained further experience to build upon that tentative opening series success.
The region, and this infant series, is still dependent upon drivers from elsewhere adding to the burgeoning talent in the Middle East. Pierro del Marchi, Italian by birth but now living in Sharm el Sheikh, will look to improve on his 2nd place in the inaugural series. Nevertheless, the most heartening aspect of the Middle East Karting Cup, the brainchild of the forward thinking Hany Soufrakis, proprietor of Ghibli Raceway in Sharm el Sheikh, was the unexpected talent within the junior ranks that was unearthed by the inaugural series.
The Junior Class was, at times, short on numbers but the kart racing ‘hare’ had been set running. The region’s youngsters have provided the platform on which to build. Ironically, one of the most impressive kids to emerge from the opening series, Shahaan Engineer from Dubai, may be absent from the second series. He recently made his debut in the world famous Rotax Euro Challenge at Genk, Belgium in Europe in September. He wants to build on that success in Europe and may not return to the MEKC.
Nevertheless it is with a spirit of optimism that Hany Soufrakis, a Libyan born businessman now living in Cairo, launches the second series of competition.
The series opens at Ghibli Raceway, Sharm el Sheikh in 11th of December. It re-emerges in March 2009 for rounds on successive weekends in the Emirates of Dubai and Abu Dhabi, before it’s ground breaking finale back at Ghibli in July. Ground breaking? Yes! This will be the first international kart series round raced exclusively under floodlights during the evening.
More info, photos and news of the MEKC |
